Articles about Know Your PC

Do you miss the classic Windows XP Start menu? Are you annoyed by changes to Explorer, like the breadcrumb navigation? Or do you feel that the Windows 7 copy dialog is a step backwards, rather than an improvement?

As you probably already know, you’re not alone: plenty of people feel that Microsoft has headed in the wrong direction with Explorer for a few years now. But help is at hand, in the shape of Classic Shell, a suite of tools that can quickly restore many Windows features that you might have thought had gone forever.

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System maintenance and optimization tool IObit Advanced SystemCare has been updated to version 5.1, not only adding new features to the main program, but also bringing IObit Uninstaller 2.1 to the party. You’ll find that there is also improved support for Windows 8, an enhanced registry scanner, extended Privacy Sweep application support and a new Performance Monitor module.

The main bulk of the app is focused on boosting the performance and stability of your system, but there are also utilities that can be used to improve security and protect your privacy. The great thing about the utility is that you are able to get as hands-on as you feel comfortable with. There are a number of automated tools that can be used to keep your system running smoothly, but you’ll find that more impressive results can be achieved by using each one.

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Technitium has released version 6.0 of its MAC Address Changer tool, extending the program’s abilities with many new network options and features.

If you simply want to find out more about your system, for instance, then launching the program will reveal all its network adapters, along with their speed, MAC address, IP address(es), gateways, DNS servers and even a graph charting adapter traffic.

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We might all be feeling slightly sluggish after overindulging throughout the holidays, but the software release schedule continues apace. Your thoughts may have already turned to Windows 8 and if you’re yet to try out the Developer Preview, PCmover Windows 8 Beta Assistant is here to make things easier for you. If you have been put off by the idea of having to set up a virtual a machine or updating your existing installation because of the prospect of transferring your files and installing all of your favorite software, this handy utility can help to automate the process.

Whether you’re upgrading Windows or not, everyone needs a backup tool, and EASEUS Todo Backup Free 4.0 fits the bill perfectly. You can backup individual files and folders or entire partitions, and you can create incremental backups to save space. If you’re sticking with your current version of Windows for the time being, SharpKeys 3.5 enables you to disable keys on your keyboard that you do not use or find that you press accidentally -- a much easier option that editing the registry. You may well be more interested in customizing the look of your computer rather than customizing the way your hardware works, and this is something that Kuvva 1.1 can help with, making it possible to automatically change your desktop wallpaper on a schedule.

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One of the most overlooked components when choosing your next Windows PC is its keyboard. You get so caught up in making sure it’s fast enough, feature-packed enough and with enough storage to forget that something as fundamental as the keyboard could make it practically unusable.

Often it’s not the keyboard itself that’s the problem, but rather the way certain keys are laid out. If you find yourself accidentally hitting one key when you mean to hit another, or find the Caps Lock keeps mysteriously coming on, then SharpKeys 3.5 is for you.

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It is important to keep your computer in good shape if you are going to get years of use from it and there are various techniques that can be used to ensure that you are getting the best possible performance from your hardware. While it is fairly easy to use the various tools that are built into Windows to keep your hard drive optimized, when it comes to the registry it is something of a different story. Windows includes a tool that can be used to edit the registry, but nothing that enables you to optimize it. This is precisely where Auslogics Registry Defrag can help and today we’re giving you a free copy of this powerful app worth $19.95.

Auslogics has a great reputation for producing powerful maintenance tools, and Registry Defrag falls very neatly into this category. The registry is an area of Windows that many people do not feel comfortable tampering with -- and with good reason, as any incorrect changes could have disastrous consequences for your computer. But just like your hard drive, your registry is prone to fragmentation as software installation and uninstallations leading to bloating and an increase in size that impacts negatively on performance.

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If you want to download a particular Linux distribution you could go online, run a quick search or two, and you’ll probably turn up the necessary links fairly quickly. But a portable Windows tool called Get Linux aims to offer an even simpler solution.

Launch this small program and you’ll see a list of more than 100 Linux distros. Enter the name you need in the Search box, choose whether you’d like the 32 or 64-bit build, click Download, then just wait while Get Linux grabs the necessary ISO for you.

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Anyone who has worked with a dual monitor setup will be aware of just what a productivity boost the extra screen space can be. The ability to have more than one application visible in full screen mode enables you to view more information at any one time is incredibly useful and it something that everyone should try. But whether you have a couple of monitors sitting on your desk or not, ScreenSlider enables you to gain a little extra space using your Android device.

The app can be used with either tablets or phones, and while both are useful options, tablet owners undoubtedly get a better deal thanks to their larger screens. ScreenSlider simply requires that you install the free app on your Android device as well as the desktop software on your PC and the software will then automatically detect your phone or tablet over your wireless network from your computer. You can drop any program window onto the display and take advantage of it whilst sat at your desk or move further afield --providing you stay within range of your network.

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Understanding exactly which processes are listening for incoming network connections (and why) is an important part of monitoring your PC’s security. You can uncover this information with Windows alone (just enter netstat -anb at an elevated command window), but if you’d like the data to be displayed in a more intelligible way, and get plenty of assistance to help you figure out exactly what’s going on, then you’ll need something like CloseTheDoor.

At first glance the program looks much like many similar networking tools. So you just launch it to instantly see a table of listening ports, with details like the network interface, port number, protocol (TCP -IPv4 or IPv6 -- or UDP), the responsible process and its process ID, any associated services, and details taken from the process executable file (Company, Product, Description and so on). Which is good -- but that’s just the start of CloseTheDoor’s abilities.

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Open-source defragging tool UltraDefrag 5.0 has been released. The Windows app, also available as a dedicated 64-bit build, features a completely redesigned interface and rewritten drive processing engine, which the developers claim will make it easier to implement future planned features.

UltraDefrag 5.0 also adds some new features, including a “quick optimization” option for targeting fragmented files rather than the whole drive, MFT optimization and user-defined log file creation to aid with bug reporting.

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Your desktop wallpaper may be something you don’t give much thought to, but whether you have chosen to stick with a stock image, or have adorned your desktop with a photograph of loved ones or a favorite place, this is an image you are going to be seeing on a daily basis. It is easy to become bored of constantly seeing the same image, and being bored is not a mood that is conducive to being productive, whatever you are meant to be doing. Kuvva is a free app that helps to alleviate the boredom by providing you with a new wallpaper every day.

This is not exactly a new idea as there are numerous wallpaper changing applications available; but Kuvva is a little different. Rather than relying on your providing a series of images that can be rotated as your desktop wallpaper, Kuvva gets its images from an online repository that is constantly updated by artists, designers and photographers. The app takes care of changing your wallpaper for you, so when you switch on your computer in the morning you can be greeted by a new and inspiring work of art.

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Most programs can be relied on to act with reasonable decency when asked to remove themselves from your computer. That’s what the built-in uninstaller is for, after all, but sometimes it’s not so straightforward.

What do you do when you’ve exhausted all normal avenues for removing unwanted software from your computer? You turn to this feature -- a showcase of the best free tools for removing stubborn apps from your Windows-powered PC.

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Hardware failure, malware, human error or software bugs: your files are at constant risk from a whole host of potential calamities. So it’s really a very good idea to create regular backup images of your system.

Of course with the wrong backup software that can be a constant hassle, but install O&O DiskImage 5.6 Professional and the program will create complete images of individual partitions or complete hard drives in just a click or two. And while it would normally cost you $29, Downloadcrew’s Giveaway site offers the entire package, no charge at all, for this New Year’s Eve only (or more specifically, from 23:59 Central European Time on December 30 2011, to 23:59 on December 31).

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It’s barely two weeks since Italian security vendor NoVirusThanks released a bunch of small tools as freeware, but it seems the company is still feeling seasonally generous -- another two of their utilities are now also entirely free to use.

Fast Raw File Copier Pro, for instance, is an apparently simple file copying tool: point it at one or more files, select a destination, and it’ll transfer the specified data at a click. Which sounds ordinary enough, but this program has a twist. It figures out where your files are located on the disk, then accesses the clusters directly, without going through Windows, and that means it can copy anything -- even files that would normally be protected.

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The Windows event logs can be a mine of useful information about the state of your PC, and understanding what they contain is often key to troubleshooting any problems you might have.

And so it’s a shame that the standard Windows Event Viewer makes accessing this data so awkward: it’s a bulky applet, horribly slow and with an intimidating interface that means even expert users can take a while to find the information they need. There are simpler alternatives around, though, and the Windows Inspection Tool Set includes a particularly appealing example.

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